Hooks are commonly attached to the top panel of garment bags so that the bags in their unfolded condition can be hung from a support rod. In order to function properly the hooks merely have to have an opening large enough to enable them to be placed over a horizontal support rod in the same manner as a clothes hanger hook. At times, however, the only support means available is a door. At other times both a rod and a door may be available but either one or the other may be preferred depending on the type of bag being used and the amount of bag maneuvering space available.
A deficiency of hooks designed to support a garment bag only from a horizontal rod or pole is that they cannot be used to support the bag from a door unless used in connection with a special support clamp which fits over the top edge of the door. The support clamp normally has an upturned leg or flange extending a short distance down from the top of the door which receives and supports the garment bag hook.
In order to enable the user to hang a garment bag from either type of support it has been proposed to provide a support hook capable of being used in connection with either a door or a rod. U.S. Pat. No. 3,179,363 to Sheiman, for example, discloses a garment bag having a wire hook of special configuration attached at its lower end to the top panel of the bag. The curved hook is adapted to fit over a support rod or over the top edge of a door. In the latter case the opposing faces of the hook are pulled by the weight of the hanging garment bag against the upper corners of the door to hold the garment bag in place. This arrangement, however, is not fully satisfactory. Since the hook engages only the corners of the upper door edge the garment bag is not as stable as desired. Further, if the user wishes to fill the bag through both faces it is necessary to first insert the garments through an opening in the exposed face, then lift the bag from the door and hang it again so that the opposite face is exposed. Although it would be preferable to be able to rotate the bag while it is supported on the door in order to expose the opposite side of the bag, the Sheiman hook design does not permit the bag to be adequately maneuvered to carry out this function.
Another type of hook that has been employed has a very wide opening between the shank extending from the top panel of the garment bag and the downwardly extending free end which together form the hook configuration. This arrangement allows the hook to be used in connection with both a horizontal support pole and a door. If used with a door, one face of the door is contacted by the free end portion of the hook while the other face is contacted only by the garment bag itself. Although the bag can be supported on the door through this arrangement, it is not adapted to be rotated while hanging in order to expose the opposite face of the bag.
Still another prior art arrangement consisted of a hook having a shank portion connected to a curved portion adapted to fit over a horizontal support rod. The shank was long enough to permit the hook to fit over a door, with parts of the shank and the curved portion of the hook being spaced from and overlying the top edge of the door. The shank portion in such an arrangement was at an angle to the top edge of the door. Depending upon the thickness of the door, either the tip of the free end of the hook or a point on the adjacent curved portion of the hook engaged one side of the door. The other side of the door was engaged by a metal loop mounted on a portion of the hook extending outwardly from the shank. The loop was mounted for rotation in a swivel connection the axis of which was substantially parallel to the shank, and a strap connecting the garment bag to the hook was attached to the loop. This loop comprised a slot whose narrow dimension was shorter than the width of the strap, thus constraining the strap parallel to the axis of the swivel. The purpose of this design was to allow the garment bag to be rotated with respect to the hook by means of the rotating swivel connection of the loop, so that the garment bag could be reversed without being removed from the door. Thus tension on the strap caused the hook to align itself to the strap with the potential of gouging the top of the door. Another problem with this arrangement is that both the rotating strap loop and the swivel connection of the loop gouged the face of the door, making the hook unacceptable.
It would be desirable to have a support hook which can be used to support a garment bag from either a horizontal rod or the top of a door in an improved manner so that when used with a door the bag will remain in a stable position and not mar the surface of the door. It would also be desirable for such a hook to allow the bag to be conveniently rotated while hanging on a door in order to expose the opposite face of the bag.